Monday, August 27, 2012

In a bit of serendipitous luck (granted, is there any other kind?), the awesome romance blog, Dear Author, features several quotes from me on the appeal of serialized stories, on the very same day that my newest book, Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga (Volume Two) is out on Amazon.

As I explain to Dear Author, my latest project, a continuing, romantic story where what happens next is up to you, was directly inspired by my soap work:

At the same time as I was writing Regency and Contemporary romances for
AVON and Dell, I was also working for soap operas, first at ABC Daytime,
and then later for Procter & Gamble Productions. In addition to
writing tie-in novels for their shows, “As the World Turns” and “Guiding
Light,” I also developed a property for them called “Another World
Today,” which was a twice weekly romantic serial, at the end of which,
readers actually got to vote on where the story goes next, and I wrote
based on their feedback. I loved the interactive component, of
basically writing a story along with my readers.... However, what I’ve learned from my previous soap work, especially
www.AnotherWorldToday.com, is that there is no such thing as one topic
on which every single reader agrees on. Even when you think there is no
way somebody could want the story to go in this direction, someone
inevitably does. I’ve had votes so close, they’ve literally been
mathematically 50-50, with a singe vote making the difference. What’s
also interesting is that, since I leave the votes open indefinitely,
sometimes they can flip months after the original question was posed and
the scenes already written. The whole interactive aspect is what I
find so exciting about writing a serial.

And, if you are a fan of my work on Another World Today, Mindy's Twitter, Oakdale Confidential, The Man From Oakdale or Jonathan's Story, please check out the Counterpoint series. My readers have been so giving and loyal, I can't thank you enough. If everyone buys a copy of Counterpoint: An Interactive Family Saga (Volume Two) today, we can drive it to the top of the best-selling charts on Amazon, and prove the appeal of serialized storytelling, once and for all!